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Fat Biking in Canada

snow adventure in Banff National Park

By Mountain-Forecast.com

June 28^th, 2017

Being in the National Parks of Canada among some of the most spectacular mountain scenery the planet can thow at you, I was really keen to experience fatbiking on snowy trails. The SA_Adventure guys ride their fat bikes most days, but we're constantly envious and inspired by the posts we see on Instagram taken in proper snowy conditions.Whilst having spectacular scenery of its own kind, South Wales, UK is not generally known for pristine powder snow, the novelty of going for a long ride and not returning home looking like a bog monster was too much to resist.

Norco Bigfoot 6.2

It may come as a surprise to find out that with winter months are low season in Banff, and as such it's harder to find shops that supply outdoor hear that is not aimed at snow or ice sports. Snowtips-Bactrax on Bear Street however had several fat bikes shot with 45NRTH Dillinger studded fat tyres for hire. The Norco Bigfoot is an aluminium framed fatbike and whilst the bike I had had a lower-end spec, the ride quality was superb and it handled incredibly well. The studded tyres rolled superbly over snow, ice and pavements, only coming acropper when rider lack of attention veered onto piles of snow from the road graders, losing all grip and sliding sideways to the amusement of any nearby pedestrians or hikers.

Spray river loop

There are quite a few signposted biking trails that may also be shared with hikers, cross country skiers and snow shoers. Finding the start of some of the trails was a bit tricky, but once on them, apart from the odd friendly local, they were really good. The previous days had seen around 15cm of fresh snow, so in some places progress was slowed by having to push the bike. The Spray River loop is recommended though as the frozen river and narrow glacial gorge is spectacular.

The Bow River viewing point is a classic view of extreme natural beauty.

BEARS & other Things to think about...

Contrary to my usual bike rides, I was surprisingly well prepared for this one. Here's a list of items I packed: Camera gear, 2 Clif Bars, water, emergency blanket, SPOT Gen3 Tracker, Leatherman, headtorch, spare thermal top, maps, spare phone battery.

It's worth noting that there is a lot of wildlife in the National Park and in the depths of the forest I spotted a warning that bears may come out of hibernation and take a look around. All I could think of if I did meet one was to offer up one of my Clif Bars as everything else seemed futile. Interestingly, this article about a mountain biker and a Grizzly Bear popped up after writing this post...

My memorable ride came to just over 18km and seemed to have passed very quickly. As I walked out of the shop, I instantly became aware that by thermal base layer was soaked in sweat and I began to shiver in the minus 20 degrees C evening cool. The only choice was to meet the other guys who'd been snowboarding in Norquay for a beer.